Faxing

Many offices still send letters and forms by fax. Faxes sent to VOICE's fax number, the VOICE fax number, which you can request by writing to info@voicestl.org, arrive as digital files, so that a document can reach you without a fax machine. An office that can send email can also send documents to your VOICE email address.

Having a Document Faxed to You

Give VOICE's fax number to the office that needs to send you a document, and ask the office to write your full name, or the name you use with VOICE, on the cover sheet. Volunteers rely on the cover sheet to know whom each fax should reach.

Receiving a Fax

1. The fax arrives as a digital file in the shared inbox that volunteers monitor.
2. A volunteer who monitors the shared inbox finds your name on the cover sheet and records the fax in the Switchboard as a relay for you.
3. That volunteer lets you know that the fax has arrived, in whatever way can reach you, or privately at your next in-person session.
4. With your permission, the volunteer can read the relevant part to you over the phone and help with anything that can be done by phone.
5. You can collect a printed copy at an in-person session.

When a cover sheet names no one and the fax shows a return number, a volunteer contacts the office that sent it.

Until you have received a fax, its digital copy is kept in a restricted folder that only the volunteers who monitor the shared inbox can open, and it is deleted once you have received it.

Sending a Document by Fax

When an office asks you to fax a document, a volunteer at an in-person session can help you send it. The document can be a paper you have with you or a file that has reached your VOICE email address. Many offices also accept a document by email or through an upload on their website, and the volunteer can help you choose whichever way the office accepts.

Example

A benefits office faxes a letter for Denise to VOICE's fax number on a Monday morning, with her name on the cover sheet. A volunteer records the fax as a relay for Denise and, that afternoon, calls the number she asked VOICE to use. With her agreement, the volunteer reads her the part of the letter that gives the deadline for a response. Denise asks for a printed copy and collects it at the next session, after which the digital copy is deleted and the relay is closed.